An Epiphany in Ujjain

“THERE IS NO doubt in my mind that Western civilisation is in decline. It is able to provide only ardha satya, half-truth,” Dr Harsha V Dehejia’s voice rang in my ears. Friend, philosopher, guide, and family elder, Dr Harsha V Dehejia is the world’s foremost expert on the aesthetics of Krishna Bhakti, besides being Ottawa’s leading allergist. One of his latest books, The Beautifully Indian Hindu Mind (2020) so moved Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he felicitated Dr Dehejia and Dr Sudha Dehejia at the Mumbai airport a few weeks ago.

Despite their long years abroad, India is where the Dehejias’ hearts are. Back “home” in Canada, was Harsha-bhai already feeling homesick for India as evidenced in his voice? “Western civilisation only provides ardha satya, half-truth, not purna [fullness or completion],” he said. “Purna is not the double of ardha—or half. Purna is like ardhanarishwari, two opposites coming together in fullness. But here—in the West—the opposite of good is bad. The binary spirit that completely fragments your life and mind.”

I am reflecting on Dr Dehejia’s profound insight after an extraordinary 4AM bharma-muhurta darshan of the bhasmaarti at the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain or, to invoke its ancient name, Avantipuri. The temple, one of the 12 jyotirlingas or eternal Shiva shrines, is among the most sacred for Hindus. Here, Shiva is the Great Lord of Time, Mahakala. The bhasmaarti, ash vespers, suggest that the very dust to which we are reduced after death becomes the votive ornament of the Lord. He, who as pure consciousness, is the Master of Time and Timelessness.

It can be an arduous visit, even with all the conveniences and amenities of contemporary times. But the temple complex has undergone a huge renovation and makeover. A four-phase development, costing over `900 crore, with the help of the Central government’s smart-city funding, has turned the one-kilometre approach to the temple into a devotional theme park, beautifully lit up at night. My friend and fellow traveller Dr Vikram Sampath and I have arrived late on the night of May 5, just before closing time.

We are treated to a golf cart glide through the various tableaux of sacred statues and scenes, with ample photo-ops. Being the full moon night of Buddha Purnima, as well as a national holiday just before the weekend, we find thousands milling about the theme park. With no entrance fee, daily footfalls run into lakhs. The local SDM, Rakesh Sharma, tells us how the project, inaugurated by Modi on October 11 last year, has totally transformed the economy and sociality of Ujjain. “Earlier, there was population flight because of a lack of opportunities. But now, we have people flocking to settle here. Over 50,000 people have got employment because of the temple renovation project. This is only the first of four phases….”

After a late dinner, we hardly managed a shuteye for a couple of hours before being woken up at 3AM to make it to this early morning darshan. As we enter the premises, we notice hundreds of devotees already lined up to enter the shrine at this pre-dawn hour. They are from all ages and states, but I am particularly struck by the large number of young people, from teenagers to couples in their mid-30s, with children, waiting so expectantly and enthusiastically. They look confident and cheerful—a cross-section of the new and resurgent India.

Through the maze of barricades and corridors, we are shepherded to a very privileged spot, next to the marble Nandi Shiva’s patient vehicle, right in front of the deity. After bathing the bare stone linga, a symbol of consciousness concentrated, with water, milk, curd, ghee, and honey, the priests carefully craft a human face on it, complete with eyes, nose, lips, ears, and a tiny chandrashekhara or chandrachuda, sliver of the Silvermoon on the forehead. Next, the ornaments, garments, and other decorations are also added to complete Shiva’s sringara or adornment. Before our eyes, from primal formlessness, Shiva has now assumed not only a form but also a face, an anthropomorphic expression of the absolute, complete with makeup and garments. It is only after this that the bhasmaarti or the ash worship begins.

The priest announces that the women present should close or cover their eyes; it is believed that to see the Lord worshipped with ashes, representing death and the end of life, is not auspicious for women. The climax of the darshan, this investiture with ashes, is certainly the highlight of the devotions. It makes me think of my own mortality—ashes to ashes, dust to dust. But ashes and dust such as would adorn Lord Mahakala, the devourer of death. After this, with eyes open, all join the chorus of the litany of the Lord’s names, the singing of bhajans, accompanied by rhythmic clapping. A wave of ecstasy sweeps through the throng. After the waving of the lights and incense, the aarati comes to an end.

Some of us are fortunate to be allowed into the small sanctum sanctorum to offer our private devotions, even bathing the deity with our own hands. This is one of the extraordinary aspects of Shiva worship—nothing pollutes the Lord, who remains ever pure and whole, whether touched or untouched. The constant drip of devotional water on his form only underscores the attention we need to pay to our own highest self—our own Shivahood—Shivoham, as the great Shankaracharya had proclaimed some 1,200 years back. This brings me, albeit belatedly, to the principal purpose of my visit. For I have been invited to the inauguration of the massive and unique memorial to Shankara and Vedanta— Ekatma Dham or the Global Centre for Oneness.

A passion project of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, this international centre will be “a global hub for unity and spiritual enlightenment,” a permanent memorial to the teachings of Acharya Shankara. Its centrepiece would be a 108-foot statue of Shankara, as a young, wandering monk. In striding posture, Shankara, as he is traditionally visualised, traversed the length and breadth of Bharatvarsha, establishing four maths or spiritual centres in the four corners of India—Sringeri, Dwarka, Joshi Math, and Jagannath Puri. He unified India and gave Hinduism a new direction by institutionalising the worship of multiple deities. Besides being a great Vedantin and India’s greatest philosopher, he was also a scholar, commentator, teacher, devotee, and institution builder par excellence.

The proposed Ekatma Dham, located close to Omkareshwar, would also have exhibition and museum space, immersive and curated experiences for visitors, theme parks, and a multifaceted international institute with seven centres: Acharya Padmapada Centre for Advaita Philosophy, Acharya Hastamalaka Advaita Centre for Science, Acharya Sureshwara Advaita Centre for Social Science, Acharya Totaka Advaita Centre for Literature, Music and Arts, Maharshi Vedavyasa Advaita Library, Acharya Gaudapada Advaita Extension Centre, Acharya Govinda Bhagavatpada Gurukul, and a Sharadapeetha Temple, on the lines of the original which is today in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). This ambitious and visionary project is the brainchild of Chief Minister Chouhan himself. Under his stewardship, the Acharya Shankar Sanskritik Ekta Nyas was set up as a trust in 2017-18, with the chief minister as chair, and 14 other trustees.

A select group of invitees were treated to a site visit, a project presentation by the architects and designers, and speeches by Chief Minister Chouhan and Swami Chidananda, Anandmurti Guruma, Swami Chidananda Saraswati, Dr Chinmaya Pandya, and Kamlesh D Patel (Daaji). The panel discussion was ably compéred and coordinated by Bollywood lyricist and poet Manoj Muntasir. My earlier experiences in Madhya Pradesh, especially at notable events such as the Simhasta Lok Manthan and much earlier at Bharat Bhavan, have convinced me that this was one state in India where writers, poets, and intellectuals were taken seriously and treated properly. After Ekatma Dham, Vikram and I went first to Omkareshwar, a beautiful temple where the great Narmada herself circles the cliff in the form of an ‘Om’. It is also renowned as the spot where Shankara met his Guru, Govinda Bhagavatpada. After stepping down the ghats to pay our obeisance to the Ma Narmada, we drove nearly six hours to reach Ujjain that evening for the pre-dawn darshan of Shiva as Mahakaleshwar the next day.

Now, sitting before the Lord, darshan, I think of how the movement of Hindu thought is from nirakriti (the formlessness of space) to akriti (the form of Shiva Linga), to sanskriti (cultural refinement). This reminds me of another of Dr Dehejia’s books, From Akriti to Sanskriti: The Journey of Indian Forms (2010). His wise words on Western civilisation come to mind again: “Baki sarva changla ahe ithe—everything else is good here, ardha-satya [half-truth] is better than mithya (illusion)….”

Has the time come for India to show the world the way to purna satya once again?

bhasmaartiHinduismLord ShivaMahakaleshwar templeResurgent IndiaspiritualismUjjain